The hidden truth about what makes bicycle sharing successful (or not)

Comes from last Sunday's Travel section of the New York Times, in their "36 Hours" feature on Montreal. Here are the first two sections of the feature, about getting around by bike:

Friday
4:30 p.m.
1) GET WHEELS

Public bikes are sweeping Europe, so leave it to Montreal, “the other Paris,” to popularize the concept in North America. Some 5,000 gray-and-red Bixi bikes were deployed last spring, becoming an instant hit. Familiarize yourself with the system: it’s as easy as swiping a credit card at one of the 400 Bixi stations and going for a spin. (Go to bixi.com for details.) It’s one of the quickest ways to get around and, at 5 Canadian dollars (about the same in U.S. dollars) for 24 hours, among the cheapest. To find the nearest Bixi station, including a large one on Rue McGill with 20 docks, download one of the many iPhone apps that offer real-time updates on available bikes including Bixou Lite (free).

5 p.m.
2) DOWNTOWN ROLL

A bike is only as good as the network it’s on. And Montreal delivers, with 310-plus miles of bike lanes that crisscross the city, about half of which are physically separated from cars. To see why Montreal was designated a Unesco City of Design in 2006, point your handlebars toward the Lachine Canal, a former industrial waterfront that has been transformed into a lush green belt. The path is dotted with architectural gems like Habitat 67 (2600, avenue Pierre-Dupuy; habitat67.com), the Brutalist-style experiment in modular housing designed by Moshe Safdie. Or pedal along Boulevard de Maisonneuve, which cuts through downtown Montreal, where a 2.1-mile path was recently named after the late Claire Morissette, a cycling activist.

The day we went to Lachine Canal there were vicious downpours, so we didn't get to do the canal boat ride (we started out, but because of the storms the boat was required to return to the dock but at least we got our money back) or to do a bicycle ride, which Suzanne and I intended to do (another excuse to go back to visit). Time Magazine says the Lachine canal bicycle path is one of the best in the world. See "Top 10 Urban Biking Trips."

This webpage from Quebec Getaways has a great collection of photos of biking along the canal.

Anyway, it is the already present hyper-positive bicycling infrastructure that makes bicycle sharing successful in Montreal, and this type of extensive infrastructure typically is not present in any other city in the United States--including Portland.